Patients allowed to sue nursing-home owner

HEALTH CARE

Published 5:22 pm, Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The state Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed a group of patients to sue the owner of 16 nursing homes in Alameda County for allegedly violating California's nurse-staffing standards.

The rules require long-term skilled-nursing facilities to provide each patient with 3.2 hours of nursing care per day. The patients claim homes owned by Covenant Care failed to meet those standards at least 35 percent of the time over a four-year period that started in December 2006.

In seeking to dismiss the suit, the company argued that only state regulators had the power to enforce the standards and that the law did not authorize a private lawsuit. A Superior Court judge agreed but was overruled in August by the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco.

The law allows nursing home residents "to bring actions themselves to remedy violations of their rights," including the "right to reside in an adequately staffed facility," said Presiding Justice Ignazio Ruvolo in the 3-0 ruling.

On Wednesday, the state's high court unanimously denied review of Covenant Care's appeal.

The head of a patients'-rights group said the ruling is crucial because the state Department of Public Health hasn't been able to enforce the staffing standards.

In response to two critical reports by federal inspectors, the Department of Public Health has cited state funding shortages for its failure to enforce staffing regulations and said it was working to improve its own staff training. The department has also proposed reducing its obligations to inspect nursing homes, but state lawmakers rejected the proposal in May.

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